As humans, we have the natural desire to solve puzzles and mysteries, since it lets us examine the darker side of humanity (from a safe distance, of course). That’s why so many people are fascinated by true crime, it gives us an insight into why people act the way they do.
Malaysia has its fair share of unsolved murder cases due to lack of conclusive evidence. While we love to discuss the whodunits and why, it is the families of the victims that have to carry the pain of losing their loved ones and never finding closure. Here are 5 horrific true crimes in Malaysia that still remain unsolved:
Jean Perera Sinappa
On April 6, 1979, Jean Perera Sinappa, a former Miss Malaysia runner-up and mother of three, was discovered in a car parked alongside the Federal Highway with fatal stab wounds to her chest and stomach. S Karthigesu, her fiancé, who was also the brother of her late husband, was present at the crime scene. Karthigesu was discovered unconscious on the ground next to the car, and he claimed that he was knocked out while relieving himself.
However, he became the key suspect in the case, which was classified as murder by the police. While he claimed that he was knocked unconscious, they found no injuries on his head or body that would’ve led him to be unconscious. There were no traces of urine at the crime scene either.
Investigations then found that Jean was romantically linked to a doctor from Sri Lanka, Dr Narada Warnasurya, and they had been reportedly exchanging love letters to each other even before Jean lost her husband in a car accident. Was it the result of a jealous lover?
Karthigesu walked away as a free man in 1981 after spending two years in prison, and Jean’s murder was classified as a cold case.
Malaysian Airlines (MAS) flight MH653
One of the most infamous true crime cases in Malaysia took place in December of 1977, when an airplane hijacking involving Malaysian Airlines (MAS) flight MH653 ended in a fiery crash which took the lives of 100 individuals who were onboard.
After departing from Penang at around 7.20pm, flight MH653 was set to land at Subang International Airport. However, it was hijacked and redirected towards Singapore’s Paya Lebar Airport instead. All communication with the aircrew ceased around 8:15pm, and what happened during the flight was mostly deciphered through the cockpit voice recorder, which was found later in the plane wreckage.
The voice recorder included a conversation between the pilots and hijackers. It was then followed by the sound of gunshots, which was believed to be what lead to the pilot’s death. The airplane, however, never made it to Singapore. The hijackers lost control of the airplane and crashed at Tanjung Kupang, Johor Bahru, where residents around the area heard a loud explosion around 8:36pm.
None of the 93 passengers and 7 crew members survived, and due to the plane’s horrific high-speed descent at a 90 degree angle, authorities could not identify any of the crash victims. However, the hijackers were suspected to be part of the Japanese Red Army (JRA), due to a hostage situation in 1975 at the American Insurance Associates (AIA) building in Kuala Lumpur, which involved 53 civilians.
Xu Jian Huang
In 2004, 14-year-old Xu Jian Huang was found dead in a swimming pool at his uncle’s Ampang Hilir home. The teenager and his elder brother had been living with their uncle since 2002.
However, this was not an accidental drowning case, as the boy’s limbs were bound and there were multiple bruises on his body. The case was classified as a murder, and the main suspects were his uncle, Koh Kim Teck, the bodyguard Resty Agpalo, and driver Mohd Najib Zulkifli.
In court, it was revealed that three days prior to his death, the boy spoke to his father on the phone, in which he had said, “Papa, I’m very frightened. They’re going to beat me.”
A year later, all three suspects were acquitted of the crime after the court ruled that the prosecution had failed to clear many unresolved and unanswered doubts. Koh Kim Teck, who was a former “Datuk Seri”, went under the radar in 2010 when his acquittal was upheld.
Audrey Melissa Bathinathan
This case took place in 1999, where 17-year-old student, Audrey, was abducted while she was on her way to Methodist Girls’ School at Jalan Cenderasari, and later assaulted and killed. The incident happened around 5:30am, and she was seen crossing the street and walking along the British Council’s sidewalk and through the road to Bukit Aman.
Later that afternoon, the victim’s mother, Margaret Francis got worried when she couldn’t reach her daughter, and finding out that Audrey was missing when she got home from work. She then filed a report at the Puchong Police Station. It was not until next day that Margaret received a phone call from the principal, who informed her that her daughter’s body, still clad in her school uniform, was found on Jalan Kinabalu, adjacent to a Tenaga Nasional substation.
Authorities discovered a wound on Audrey’s head, believed to be the result of being hit with a stone. Tests also found that she had been raped, and then strangled to death before her body was dumped at the substation.
Two drug addicts in the area were seen as suspects and were promptly arrested by the police, but they were let go when there was insufficient evidence to tie them to the crime.
Nurin Jazlin
One of the most heartbreaking murders to date involved 8-year-old Nurin Jazlin. On 20th August, 2007, Nurin asked her mother if she could walk to a night market that was 500 metres from her home to buy a hairclip. Her mother agreed thinking that she would be going with her younger sister, but she didn’t, and she went out by herself instead.
When she did not return home, her parents searched the area before filing a police report, after which an extensive nationwide search was conducted. There was CCTV footage that showed Nurin being forced into a white van, and several people had witnessed the abduction.
Almost a month later, a black and blue bag was discovered outside a Petaling Jaya book distribution company, and inside was the body of a young girl. An autopsy revealed that it was Nurin, and that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
Her parents initially denied that the body was hers, due to the severe physical changes to the corpse. But later, DNA tests were conducted and confirmed that the body was Nurin. According to the police, her case remains open, as the perpetrator has yet to be caught. However, till today, the case remains unsolved.
